


We Who Remain

by CleverSnail



Category: The LEGO Movie (2014)
Genre: Grittyfluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 06:51:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2219715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CleverSnail/pseuds/CleverSnail
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard when Daddy's office is 200 miles above home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Who Remain

There’s a little blue astronaut spinning in circles on the front porch of the small, tidy house, his arms outstretched to the dusk, spooking the lightning bugs from the azaleas. Above him, the stars blink awake in the deepening darkness. Night is coming, brisk and feeling of fall.

He flops his arms down, dramatic. “Dada, come _onnnnnnn!_ ”

Inside, B’s on a mission, fishing determinedly through the hall closet. “Hang on. You need a jacket.”

“ _Noooooo…_ ”

“Yes.”

“ _Whyyyyy…_ ” Neil starts spinning again.

B closes the screen door behind him, sits down on the porch steps. He settles his spinning son gently. “Enough with the whingeing, please. Astronauts need to wear jackets. You know it’s cold in space.”.

He stuffs Neil’s limp arms into the tiny BPD duty jacket Grammy made, pulls the tucked-in collar free, smooths the front lapels. Tugs the jacket down over the wee blue flight suit Neil’s been in for days. Surveys his boy.

“There now. Mixing metaphors a bit, but it’ll do.”

“I’m gonna be a space policeman when I grow up!” Neil yells, flying off the porch and into their little yard. B watches him for a moment, a blur of blue and black and mussy red hair. He’s a spitfire, just like his father.

“I believe you.” B holds out his hand. “C’mon. Let’s go see Daddy.”

Neil’s hand is soft and warm and more than a little sticky. B’s sure if he gets him into the light there’ll be grubby nails galore. The boy’s in need of a good scrubbing, and he’s already up long past his bedtime. But tonight’s a special night.

They walk hand in hand to the end of the road, past the last streetlight. B lifts Neil over a stile and into a day-warm meadow. Lightning bugs hover at the tops of the grasses: roving, earthbound stars. The bright, knotted rope of the Milky Way cuts through the arc of the sky above them.

Neil dances on tiptoes. “Where do I look, Dada? Is it time?”

B checks his phone, has another read of the coordinates Benny’s texted him. His eye lingers over _i love you B_ and his throat tightens. It never gets easier, even after all these years.

Neil tugs at his sleeve lightly, brings him back to earth. “Da?”

B swallows hard, clears his throat and looks up.

“North northwest.” He searches the horizon for the last glow of the sunset, points north from there. Neil watches carefully.

“Look out over there. Any moment now.”

They don’t have long to wait. Twenty degrees from the horizon a yellow-orange light emerges and begins moving towards them across the sky. It’s the space station, with its precious cargo of Benjamin Blue.

“Daddy!” Neil shouts, and takes off into the meadow at a full gallop to meet the arc of the spacecraft. B lets him go, lets him taste that joy, hoping Benny’s absence won’t feel so sharp for a little while.

Neil is running and jumping and waving and laughing, chasing the space station as it glides silently overhead. He follows the light across the meadow until it disappears just above the eastern horizon, and then he sprints back to B. Neil’s sweaty and filthy and covered in burrs, his sneakers are soaked and yet he’s absolutely triumphant. He grabs B’s hand, excited.

“Do you think Daddy knew we were waving? Do you think he could tell? Dada, do you think?”

Before B can answer, his phone vibrates from his pocket. He digs it out, checks the number. B can’t hold back the smile as hands it to Neil.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself, Little Blue?”

A moment later his boys are yelling away excitedly at each other. They’re peas in a pod. Benny’s so loud even B can hear him. B herds Neil through the meadow, back to the street and up to their house as he yaks away on the phone. B sees a neighbor come to the window, but he’s not telling Neil to quiet down. Absolutely not. Let them dare ask.

Neil and Benny are still bellowing at each other when they reach the house. Inside they go, the three of them. B peels off Neil’s dirty clothes, gives him a cursory scrub with a washcloth. A dunk in the tub can wait til morning. On go the space pjs, and Neil scrambles into bed, phone still clutched in his sticky little hand, pressed to his dirty little ear. B kisses him on the forehead, clicks off the lamp.

He waits til all sounds cease before tiptoeing back upstairs to retrieve his phone, sliding it carefully out from underneath his sleeping son’s head. The screen is awash in drool, but by some miracle it still recognizes B’s keystrokes as he types.

_Youre a wonderful dad Benny Blue_

He hits the send button and lets his love drift away into the cosmos.


End file.
